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Oak Seer by Graham Higson

The year is 1994. Jack Briscoe is a loner who is never alone. He has two passions: woodwork and womanizing, and despite his popularity with women he leads a solitary lifestyle, unable to hold down a steady relationship – not that he really wants one.

Working from a rented barn, sleeping in his van, and constantly short of money, his prospects are dire. He feels that his situation couldn’t get any worse. Then one night, when on one of his many casual assignations, he is stricken by a curse, and his ability to work – and his sexual prowess – are cruelly torn away.

Lost in the town’s outskirts, he is inexplicably drawn to the house of his old school friend, unaware that inside his friend’s wife is also facing a dilemma, believing she is about to die.

Far away in the Scottish Highlands, Chrissie Meikle, a modern-day High Priestess, with a coven of half-hearted pagan worshippers, has unwittingly set in play some ancient magic, with its roots stretching back hundreds of years.

In this tale of adventure, mystery, crime, witchcraft, and the occult – where the past bleeds through into the present – Briscoe must find a way to bring an end to these visions that he feels threaten his freedom, sanity and even his very existence. Is an ancient oak carving of a monstrous face the key? Or is it his ruthless enemy determined to use its power against him?

When the paranormal malevolence attacks two of his former women friends, he must act, travelling to Scotland, where yet another adversary awaits him, along with the haunting memory of a girl in a white dress, as he attempts to exorcise the past.

But maybe it’s the past that is exorcising him.

Although I was born in Huddersfield, I’ve lived in Yorkshire all my life. Now I hide in an outlying Pennine village with a growing collection of books, four sociable pond frogs, and an understanding wife (a slave to eBay). Our two grown-up children are among my best friends.
I have a BSc degree in technology, and an MA in Professional Writing from University College Falmouth (that was my way of getting to visit Cornwall). That course filled in a lot of the knowledge gaps – not only for screenwriting, which is what I specialised in, but also for storytelling in general. Having written professionally for over 25 years (and then some!), Oak Seer is the first of my published novels, with others being prepared.
My hobbies include swimming, reading, watching lots of screen drama, and helping to republish the novels of Leo Walmsley.

Graham asked me to do a review for him for Oak Seer. I finished it and I have to say, this is something different. Just looking at the cover, I wouldn’t have picked it up, but I promise you the content and the story is completely out of this world. It’s a smart written novel, with a good pace and really well developed characters. I don’t want to give the story away, I think the blurb said enough, entice enough, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The end didn’t left me wondering or that I expected more from this, and that is what I like about a novel. It should be rounded off, not leaving the reader hanging in the air, and it should want you to pick something else from this author and Oak Seer definitely did that for me.
Well done Graham. I really liked this

Good luck Graham with Oak Seer and I wish you all the best with your writing career.
Grab your copy now.